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Mental Health Parity Timeline
April 29, 2004 marked the two-year anniversary of President Bush’s call
to congressional leaders to pass legislation to “provide full mental
health parity.” Two years later, more than two-thirds of U.S. Senators
and a strong majority of House members support mental health parity legislation
and an overwhelming majority of Americans believe health insurance should provide
coverage for mental illness at least equal to that for physical health problems.
However, the leaders with whom the President pledged to work continue to stall
the bill’s progress. The time for action is now.
1993 |
Congress begins debate on mental health parity. |
1996 |
Congress passes the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 requiring that annual
and lifetime dollar limits on mental health care not be stricter than for
other medical care. |
May 2000 |
The General Accounting Office (GAO) reports that while most employers
complied with the 1996 Act, 87 percent of those plans restricted their
mental health coverage in other ways, substituting new barriers for those
ruled out under the law. |
January 1, 2001 |
The federal government institutes mental health and substance abuse parity
under the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) Program (the health plan
covering federal employees including members of Congress, their dependents
and staff). |
March 15, 2001 |
The Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act (S. 543) – mirroring
the mental health parity provisions adopted under FEHB – is introduced
by Senators Domenici and Wellstone. (Rep. Roukema introduced broader parity
bill in January 2001, H.R. 162; in March 2002, Roukema introduces H.R.
4066, a companion to S. 543.). |
August 1, 2001 |
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) unanimously
adopts a compromise version of S. 543. |
October 30, 2001 |
Senate by voice vote adopts parity provisions of S. 543 as an amendment
to a Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill. |
December 18, 2001 |
Conferees on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill drop the parity amendment
after House conferees reject it on party-line vote, citing objections of
committees of jurisdiction. The conference explanatory statement says, “the
conferees strongly urge the committees of jurisdiction…to convene
early hearings and undertake swift consideration of legislation to extend
and improve the mental health parity protections.” |
April 29, 2002 |
President Bush endorses parity, pledges to work with congressional leaders
to win passage and announces establishment of a mental health commission. |
March 13 and
July 23, 2002 |
House Committees on Education and Workforce and Energy and Commerce,
respectively, hold hearings on mental health parity, but take no further
action thereafter on the legislation. |
February 27, 2003 |
The Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act (reflects
compromises adopted in 2001), S. 486, is introduced by Senators Domenici
and Kennedy; a companion, H.R. 953 is introduced by Reps. Kennedy and Ramstad
on March 24th. |
July 23, 2003 |
President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health endorses parity. |
October-November 2003 |
Senate debate surrounding the one-year anniversary of the death of Sen.
Paul Wellstone leads to a Nov. 6th floor colloquy reporting
that Sen. Judd Gregg, HELP Committee chair, indicated he would give high
priority to mental health parity legislation early in 2004. |
April 26, 2004 |
National survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the Coalition
for Fairness in Mental Illness Coverage shows that 78 percent of Americans
believe it is unfair for health insurance policies to routinely limit mental
health benefits and require people to pay more out-of-pocket for mental
health care than for any other medical care. |
April 26, 2004 |
The Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act (S.
486/H.R. 953) has 69 co-sponsors in the Senate and 245 in the House of
Representatives. Despite the two-year anniversary of the President’s
call for passage of parity legislation, no action has been taken or is
scheduled on these bills in any of the committees of jurisdiction. More
than 365 diverse organizations – including groups representing the
faith community, families, veterans, educators, physicians, county government,
corrections, and children – support this legislation. |
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